Cole's Food Challenges

Whenever we get together with my brothers, Cole humors my brothers by doing food challenges- he also earns himself a little cash.

Food challenges he has attempted:

licking a plate of syrup

eating a bunch of saltine crackers

eating a ridiculous amount of Peeps

You see the pattern....

So at Thanksgiving, a buffet of football snacks was irresistable.

They spent quite a while thinking of the perfect challenge.

They finally decided on 50 cents per spoonful of items off of the buffet.

There was:

Spinach Artichoke dip

Nacho cheese dip

Hot sauce from the wings

Hummus

Mayonnaise

Cream cheese out of a jalapeno

and then there was....

An ounce of Calyn's soy formula

He earned his $5, but he's not looking too good.

He slept with a trash can next to his bed that night.

He didn't use it.

I'm sure they are all scheming for the next family get together.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!

I announced this last night and Cole thought I was nuts. I think Thanksgiving becomes more attractive as a person ages. I love the opportunity to get together with family and enjoy great food without the pressures of Christmas.

I also like to spend some time reflecting on the previous year and the things I have in my life that I should be thankful for. Too often I think we get so busy with the day to day tasks that we don't look at the bigger picture.

Some of the things that I am thankful for this year:

This silly, awesome man who has entered into parenthood with me again this year.

It was a long journey to get to this point, but I honestly couldn't be happier.

I have a great partner and wonderful support system.

And of course I'm so thankful to have the privilege to spend all of my days with these two amazing people.

It has been an awesome experience to watch Cole become a big brother to Stella.

I don't think a day goes by that he doesn't ask how she's doing.

Even when he's gone for the weeeknd, he always texts to check in on his sister.

I feel so blessed to be a part of the lives of these children.

I know that as a parent, it is my job to teach and guide them to be good people, but I don't think that is one-sided. As much as I am guiding them, they are guiding me.

So during this holiday season- I am giving thanks, and reflecting.

We are looking forward to spending time on Thursday with Jim's family. Stella will get the opportunity to meet her Aunt, Uncles and Cousins that she hasn't met yet. It will be fun for us to share our special little girl with her extended family.

On Friday we will be at my Mom's with 2 of my brothers and thier families. Stella & Cole will get to hang out with cousins, and Cole gets some quality time with 2 of his favorite guys, who incessantly pick on him, and he loves every minute of it! We are also hoping to sneak in some time over the weeeknd with other sisters and cousins.

What a wonderfully exciting time to spend with those that we love.

I hope that everyone takes a few moments to reflect on the things that you are thankful for.

Mixed Emotions

The smiles continue with this little girl.

She hands them out much more readily these days.

But she still seems to be a little overwhelmed with the flood of emotions.

Very frequently after the smile we get this....

It seems that she can't distinguish the emotion that makes her smile from the one that makes her pout.

Usually the bottom lip also comes out and we get a full-blown pout.

She has also been doing a bit more cooing and may be close to giggling. Jim does a game with her where his hand is attacking her tummy. He got a half giggle this morning, of course followed by the pout.

My Name is Rosie and I'm an Addict

My dog has a pathetic quality about her.

I would like it if she was regal and confident.

She is not.

Instead she is needy, nervous, and bumps into things when she walks around the house in which she has lived for 3 years.

She is addicted to socks. Anyone's socks, but particularly Cole's socks.

Actually, I don't think she really has a preference, but Cole is not as diligent about making sure his socks are put away as Jim and I.

She is a sock caper.

No one ever sees her take them, but they end up either in her bed, or under our bed.

I think she would bury them in the yard if we would let her.

She doesn't chew them or damage them.

She just loves them.

She knows that she shouldn't take them.

When caught, she is always repentant.

But she is an addict, she can't help herself.

I think the socks help her feel a connection to the family.

Owning the socks boosts her confidence in some way.

Today, I found these socks in Rosie's bed.

The bigger sock is Cole's. The smaller is Stella's.

Stella has arrived in the family. Rosie has accepted her, and is willing to love her socks.

Now I need to pay attention to where I'm leaving her socks.

It's Cole's Birthday!!!!!

He's 14!

I'm not sure how this happened. I don't feel like he should be 14. I'm having a hard time focusing on the present.

I keep thinking about what this means for the future.

Soon he will be driving, and dating, and moving out.

I'm not ready for any of that!

Here's our boy trying to guess his presents.

Yeah! A guitar book. Now he can play just like Jack White.

Here's the stack of gifts.

Wait- there's one more. Close your eyes....

Oh my gosh! What is it?

It's a new bike. Well, it's a newly refurbished bike.

Jim has been working for weeks on getting this bike ready for Cole.

From the looks of it, Jim's efforts were not in vain.

Cole loves it!

Cole's new ride.

For the record, as I type this Cole is outside riding around the neighborhood.

I think he likes it :)

It's a perfect fit.

She's Crafty

In preparation for the switch to cloth diapers, I've been thinking about buying Stella some of these Babylegs. They are basically legwarmers to replace pants. The reason why they are valuable when first making the swich to cloth diapers is that I'm planning on using one size fits all diapers, so you can imagine that on a smaller baby like Stella, there will be some bulk that might be a little tough to navigate with pants.

So, I have shopped around for Babylegs and they usually run about $12-$15 which seemed like a lot to pay for legwarmers. The other night on Baby Steals they had Babylegs for $9.99 a pair- still too much, I thought, for a simple legwarmer, so I started googling.

And then I decided to get crafty.

I found this tutorial for making your own Babylegs, and I figured I could give it a shot. I bought a pack of 3 pair of women's socks from Wal Mart for $5.

So far so good.

I don't have a sewing machine, so I had to hand stitch.

I did two rows of stitching to add a little extra strength.

Here is the finished product.

I managed to make 2 pair in about an hour from start to finish (including the time it took me to find my sewing box and thread the needle).

What do you think?

Stella loves them!

So, basically I got 3 pair of Babylegs for $5.

I think they would be really fun with some of the holiday print socks that are out right now.

I realized after I made them that they would serve really nicely to wear under dresses in place of tights. I did buy Stella a couple of pair of tights, but they sell tights sizes 0-6 months, and the ones that she has are WAY too long for her. Now I'll just buy a couple of pair of socks and make my own. Plus these make diaper changing much easier.

Stella and Her Daddy

Jim is a little bit of a Nervous Nelly.

He doesn't like it when Stella cries (who does?) but it makes him nervous and he would rather pass her off to me than try to figure out how to soothe her. It does make sense since I'm home with her every day and can read her cues much quicker than he can.

He is very helpful in many other ways, however.

He is Stella's chief napping partner.

We call this the snuggle nap.

He likes to tell her stories.

And is happy to help out with a bottle feed when he gets home from work.

I actually always like to make sure that we have at least one bottle on hand just for this purpose. I think the bonding time is just as important for Dads as it is for Moms.

He likes to share some Husker moments with Stella.

And of course they share some TV time.

Stella has been delighting us for a week now with her gorgeous smile and she always makes sure to save a few of those special smiles for her Daddy.